I inhale a fresh, meadowy, spring odor.

March 7. 

Walking by the river this afternoon, it being half open and the waves running pretty high, — the black waves, yellowish where they break over ice, — I inhale a fresh, meadowy, spring odor from them which is a little exciting. It is like the fragrance of tea to an old tea-drinker.

H. D. Thoreau, Journal, March 7, 1858

Walking by the river this afternoon, it being half open. See March 4, 1854 ("I can no longer get on to the river ice."); March 4, 1855 (''River channel fairly open."). Compare March 6, 1858 ("Up river on ice to Fair Haven Pond"); March 7, 1852 ("I walk up the river on the ice to Fair Haven Pond.").

Black waves running pretty high. See May 8, 1854 (" I feel exhilaration, mingled with a slight awe, as I drive before this strong wind over the great black-backed waves, cutting through them, and hear their surging and feel them toss me.")

I inhale a fresh, meadowy, spring odor exciting like the fragrance of tea to an old tea-drinker. See February 18, 1857("I was surprised to find how sweet the whole ground smelled when I lay flat and applied my nose to it; more so than any cow; as it were the promise of the perfect man and new springs to eternity."); March 4, 1854 ("I begin to sniff the air and smell the ground”); March 18,1853 ("To-day first I smelled the earth.”); April 2, 1856 ("I am tempted to stretch myself on the bare ground above the Cliff, to feel its warmth in my back, and smell the earth and the dry leaves"); May 4, 1859 ("I draw near to the land; I begin to lie down and stretch myself on it. After my winter voyage I begin to smell the land.”);May 16, 1852 ("The whole earth is fragrant as a bouquet held to your nose.")